A packed house for the Climate Bill 1 January 2008
It was a packed house for The Big Ask public meeting at Parliament. In fact, in turned into quite an event.
A full house for The Big Ask public meeting
Joan Ruddock - the Minister for Climate Change - was the main speaker. The meeting was intended to give people a chance to quiz her about the Climate Change Bill.
Planning ahead
Karen Buck, MP for Regent's Park and Kensington North, had suggested holding the meeting at Parliament. This was in response to a request from her Friends of the Earth local group.
This seemed a good idea. Especially when Joan Ruddock, the Minister for Climate Change, also agreed to be the main speaker.
Full house
On the night however, over four times as many people turned up as we expected.
As a result they kindly agreed to run two short meetings back to back to try and accomodate everyone.
However, we are aware that many of those who turned up still did not get in. And those who did only got a shortened version of what they had turned up for.
If you were one of those people who braved the rain to come to the meeting - but were unable to get in - please accept our apologies.
Lessons learnt
However, please don't feel you made a wasted journey. The presence of hundreds of people prepared to queue in the rain to attend the meeting sent a clear message to Government.
People want to see tough action on climate change, and they want a chance to quiz Ministers about how to achieve that.
And we have learnt a lesson too. With such massive interest and demand, we are going to organise a meeting in a much larger venue in central London at which you can hear from and question Ministers.
Keep in touch
If you would like to know about upcoming public meetings, or just keep up to date with The Big Ask campaign, please join Climateonline.
© Friends of the Earth
